


Women and Horses and Power and War

by Insidiae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-08 00:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insidiae/pseuds/Insidiae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These are your last two thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Women and Horses and Power and War

>EQUIUS: HE SAID KNEEL, MOTHERFUCKER

This is the second to last thought you have:

As Gamzee wraps the string of your own bow around your neck, you think,  _Yes, Highblood, yes yes yes thank you god yes_ , because never did you ever imagine that you would die in such a glorious and fitting way.

You have always acknowledged Gamzee as your natural superior, but until this moment, you had given up on the laughsassin ever actually living up to his blood.  You know what you told Karkat – that you’d “try to be prepared” if it came down to a fight – but you also know that you just can’t stop the Highblood now that he has finally become the subjuggulator he was always meant to be.

The arrow is a bright, sharp pain in your thigh, a reminder that when a superior says kneel, you  _do it._ You can feel the sweat pouring down your face, and for a brief moment you absurdly wish you had a towel to save even the tiniest bit of your dignity in the presence of a nobler blood.

Not like the towel would do anything; there’s just no way to hide how aroused you are right now.  You are going to die in a matter of seconds, but there is a good chance you are going to come in your pants before that happens.  You don’t even have a bucket on you, but then again, it’s kind of a moot point now.  Getting culled by the drones happens to be pretty low on your list of worries at the moment, go figure.

You close your eyes as Gamzee squeezes the breath from your chitinous windhole, and that’s when you hear it.  Most trolls would chalk up the metallic scratchings to whiskerbeasts in the vents, but you know better.

 _Nepeta_.

Nepeta hunts better than anyone else you know; she’s quick and she’s quiet, she knows how to hide her movements and sneak up on her prey, but you have spent far too time with her to not immediately recognize her subtle shifting.

What is she even doing here?  You told her to hide, you  _told_  her-

But of course she didn’t listen.  She never does.

And that is how you come to the last thought you ever have: Nepeta is going to die.

Even drained of air, you can see what is going to happen clearly in your thinkpan’s eye.  In a few seconds, you’ll be dead.  Moments after that, Nepeta will spring from her hiding place in a misguided attempt to avenge you, because that’s what moirails do: they look out for each other.  But she won’t be a match for him, because no one is a match for the Subjuggulators.

But Nepeta will Avenge Pounce Gamzee.

The Highblood will stop her, and then he’ll turn on her.

He will club her to death, and it will be slow and painful and terrible.

And you won’t be there to stop him.

It’s this thought, and this thought only that pushes you to move.  You raise your STRONG arms to your neck, scrabble at the wire, but by now it’s too late and Gamzee is pulling pulling pulling gaspgaspsquelchsquelchHoNkhonkHONK. 

You die with a smile on your face that is also a grimace.  Just like “friend” and “enemy,” Trolls only have one word to describe both expressions, as your society finds that the two tend to be equally unpleasant and painful to look at.

Your body falls backwards and Gamzee observes it coolly.  He reaches down to the wire around your neck in silence, which he breaks with a sudden, “honk HONK motherFUCKER.”  Above him, the vents rattle.

* * *

 

Nepeta Avenge Pounces Gamzee.

The Highblood stops her, and then he turns on her.

He clubs her to death, and it is slow and painful and terrible.

And you are not there to stop it.


End file.
